Secure File Transfer:
Just like email has become a basic and ubiquitous building block of an enterprise's DNA, transferring (large) files securely has become a core business process in ways that nobody had envisioned just five years ago.
So, how do you send large files securely today?

Wednesday, May 10, 2006

hello, world

Greetings! I'm very excited to have this opportunity to begin an open dialogue with you about the trends and issues of secure file transfer. Just like email has become a basic and ubiquitous building block of an enterprise's DNA, transferring (large) file securely has become a core business process in ways that nobody had envisioned just five years ago.

Raise your hands if this has happened to you.

Received a notification from IT saying that you MUST clean up attached files in your inbox because it will reach its quota soon?

Somebody complained to you that your data-and-graphic-rich presentation is being rejected by the recipient's email server as being too big?

Made an IT administrator's face turn green by demanding a new FTP account be set up THIS INSTANT because you "need to share a critical file with an external user. Yesterday!" (Try not to do this since those IT types have long memories.)

I rest my case.

With this forum I hope to share best practices, compliance information, retention policies, ideas for storage management, security tips, and more in the context of getting the best ROI from your secure large file transfer infrastructure. You have an open invitation to tune in regularly and contribute to the discussions. Like the book The Wisdom of Crowds says, we can learn a lot from each other.

Just so you know where I'm coming from, I am the "marketing guy" at Accellion, I have a front row seat and back stage access on secure file transfer appliance as a new market. From its recent introduction as a new product category to the current rapid growth, this has been one heck of a show so far and things are just heating up!

Before Accellion, I've always been involved in various aspects of B2B space. I was a programmer, hence the tribute to Brian W. Kernighan's work on C programming in the title. I was a consultant, still refer to most airports by their three letter IATA code such as ORD for Chicago O'Hare. I was a product manager, coaxing new products and upgrades to walk out of the engineering lab into enterprise usage in the fields. And I can bear witness to the vicissitude of Silicon Valley - some uplifting, some banal, some pathetic, but always entertaining.